Parishioners in the Camden Diocese donated nearly $209,000 during the 2013 appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious. The annual collection support senior sisters, brothers and religious order priests.
The $208,777.83 raised, reported by the National Religious Retirement Office, was an increase of nearly $79,000, over last year’s total.
Over the last 26 years, the Camden Diocese has donated $5,293,811.25 to the fund.
Sister Mary McGarrity, Diocesan Delegate for Women Religious, was pleased with the diocesan response, saying she was “delighted at the generosity” of the Camden Diocese.
Since 1989, the National Religious Retirement Office has distributed nearly $586 million to help underwrite the daily care of elderly religious.
An additional $74 million has been allocated toward self-help projects initiated by religious communities, including collaborative health care facilities.
In a letter to Bishop Dennis Sullivan, Sister Janice Bader, executive director of the National Religious Retirement Office, thanked parishioners of the diocese for their help. “Words cannot express our gratitude for their generous and prayerful support of our nation’s senior priests, brothers and religious order priests,” she wrote.
According to the campaign website there are 70,798 Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests in the United States. “Nearly 51,000 of these belong to religious communities that receive financial assistance and/or support and services made possible by the Retirement Fund for Religious,” it states.
The site also notes that by 2023, it is projected that religious past age 70 will outnumber those under age 70 by four to one.